Basic Trope: The player is given some basic equipment at the start of the game which they'll quickly replace with something better.
- Straight: Bob starts out wearing nothing but the unique and useless "[Bob's Clothes]" as armour, and armed with a [Stick].
- Exaggerated:
- Alice, a trained soldier, starts off with nothing but a [Warm Jacket], a [Paintball Gun] and a [Cracked Helmet].
- Bob begins with full [Body Armor] and a [Giant Sniper Rifle] — but because it's Starter Equipment it's worthless anyway, Statistically Speaking.
- Downplayed:
- Bob has the cheapest equipment available from the starting area's shop — a [Broken Straight Sword].
- The game starter equipment is a reliable set of Boring, but Practical gear that can carry you through most situations while more advanced equipment are either Situational Sword that will come in handy in the situation they're designed for or Infinity +1 Sword that serves as an 11th-Hour Superpower.
- The game starter equipment is the only gear you'll ever have, but an upgrade system will allow you to turn it into Ace Custom equipment by the mid-game.
- Justified:
- [Bob's Clothes] were made on the cheap by his mother. Hence there are no clothes like them, but they are neither valuable nor designed for combat. While there are obviously other [Stick]s lying around he sees no reason to pick them up when he finds an actual weapon.
- Bob is decked out in full, modern combat gear — but since he's fighting aliens, it's dramatically inferior to their equipment anyway.
- Bob's a random peasant, so it wouldn't make sense to have him start with the Infinity +1 Sword.
- More advanced weaponry requires greater skill to use, so it makes sense that an inexperienced character would start with something basic.
- Inverted: Bob begins with the most powerful equipment in the game, which can be bought anywhere. However it breaks rather quickly when it's used.
- Subverted:
- Alice immediately goes into the armoury and trades in her equipment for some actual weapons and armour and gets some for Bob while she's at it.
- The [Stick] turns out to be a very deadly late-game equipment.
- Double Subverted:
- Due to budget cuts, they can still only requisition equipment far inferior to what they'll find later.
- Armor and weapons are next to worthless, since Bob still needs to level grind his magic/kung fu/etc.
- Except the [Stick] is available in the shop right from the beginning, and without upgrading, it does little to no damage.
- Parodied: Bob is stuck in a Hopeless Boss Fight since his [Stick] can't even harm a mildly agitated sheep.
- Zig Zagged: Some party members begin with better equipment than others.
- Averted:
- The game has no improved equipment. Alice and Bob's weapons are all they'll need for the rest of the game.
- The game does not allow Alice and Bob to change their equipments.
- Enforced: The devs tried starting you off at full power, but testers complained about the lack of advancement.
- Lampshaded: "Don't I have anything better than this [Stick]? I mean there's probably at least a kitchen knife somewhere in my house...."
- Invoked: Bob makes sure to be under-equipped compared to everyone else so that he can be The Hero.
- Exploited: Bob accepts the weaker weapons so that he can sell them, knowing they'll get better ones immediatly anyway.
- Defied: Bob keeps a cache of weapons and armour just in case. It's roughly to the standards of mid game items.
- Discussed: "I don't have anything but the clothes on my back and a [Stick]!" "Stop complaining, we'll find somewhere that sells something better soon."
- Conversed: "I hear that Bob's off to save the world with nothing but a [Stick]!"
- Deconstructed:
- The game is Nintendo Hard because of the poor equipment at the start of the game.
- Because the characters start with worthless weapons, they are forced to use stealth and the environment much more in the early stages.
- Reconstructed: Once you get past that part it becomes more forgiving.
- Played For Laughs: Bob has several jokes made at his expense regarding his gear (if you come back to that area later the Non Player Characters in question recognise the improvement).
- Played For Drama: Bob is the protagonist of a Survival Horror game. The weak weapons help keep the player on edge.
OK, this Playing With Wiki page is a good start, but the best stuff's over on [Starter Equipment]!
